Insurance Technology Industry News

[January 10, 2013]

Brown & Toland Physicians and Aetna Team up to Deliver High Quality, Coordinated Care to Aetna Members

SAN FRANCISCO --(Business Wire)--

Aetna (NYSE: AET)
and Brown & Toland Physicians (BTP) today announced a new accountable
care organization (ACO) model of health care that is designed to improve
the quality of care for Aetna members and lower health care costs.
Members in an Aetna preferred provider organization (PPO) and Managed
Choice (MC) plan and who receive care from Brown & Toland primary care
doctors became part of this program on January 1, 2013.

"We look forward to working with Brown & Toland to provide a new level
of coordinated care for our members," said Mark Reynolds, Aetna's local
president for Northern California. "This program is another example of
how Aetna is working with health care providers to promote higher
quality care, greater coordination, a better patient experience and
lower health care costs."

As part of the program, Aetna and Brown & Toland agreed to a new payment
model that supports doctors in assuming greater accountability for the
quality and cost of Aetna members' overall health care experience.

The percentage of Aetna members who received recommended preventive
care and screenings;

Improved management of members with chronic health conditions;

Reductions in hospital readmission rates; and

Reductions in emergency room visits.

"We are pleased to align with Aetna to provide a high level of care
coordination for their members in San Francisco," said Richard Fish,
Brown & Toland's chief executive officer. "We have comprehensive
systems, a high quality physician network, and a dedicated care
management team in place to help improve care and reduce costs for Aetna
and its members."

About Brown & Toland Physicians

Brown &Toland Physicians, based in San Francisco, is an independent
practice association (IPA) of about 1,500 physicians (in San Francisco
and in the East Bay as the Alta Bates Medical Group) serving more than
300,000 HMO and PPO patients. Brown &Toland is a six-time winner of the
California Association of Physician Group's "Elite" honor and in 2011
was selected to participate in the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization
(ACO) model, a transformative new initiative sponsored by the Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. To learn more
visit www.brownandtoland.com.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits
companies, serving approximately 37.3 million people with information
and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their
health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and
consumer-directed health insurance products and related services,
including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and
disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health
care management services and health information technology services. Our
customers include employer groups, individuals, college students,
part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers,
governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and
expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.